Academia versus industry as a wellspring of new ideas in drug discovery : the case of oncology

Abstract

The United States population is aging, and the need for novel approaches to treat and manage disease continues to grow. Among the diseases that will impact this population, cancer remains a therapeutic area with significant unmet need. Pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries must continue to meet revenue and income growth expectations and will become increasingly dependent on novel drugs in their pipelines. In order for the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries to meet the demands of both patients and shareholders, productivity in the research and development process will need to improve significantly. In order to understand how best to improve the drug discovery and development process, it is important to identify potential sources of innovation throughout the process. Among these, an important consideration is to understand the paths that molecules take through the discovery and development process.

(cont.) This thesis used the marketplace of oncology drugs in development to test the hypothesis that novel molecules largely originate in academia, are developed by biotechnology companies and ultimately are licensed to pharmaceutical companies for commercialization. This thesis analyzed a database of 364 unique oncology small molecules and biologics entering Phase I clinical development between 1991 and 2002.